133. To Become a Chunin in Konoha, Defeat a Kage

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"The previous one was Itachi Uchiha. I don't remember the exact details, but he reached S-rank at 13 years of age."

"Sasuke's brother, huh? No wonder he trains so hard," Ino commented.

"The kin-slayer," Choji also spoke a few words.

"Yeah, he was the record holder for the youngest to reach such high combat prowess until a year ago."

"Is it Sora? The newest record holder?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, his combat prowess borders on Elite Jounin, and he achieved it before he even turned 7." This didn't really shock anyone in the room, but hearing it confirmed was still something.

"Damn, I don't really feel anything," Ino said with a blank face.

She wasn't sure what to feel anymore.

"Well, young prodigies like that generally develop a lot of mental issues. Kakashi himself could be considered 'eccentric,' but he was already like that in his teenage years. And about Itachi..." Shikamaru didn't comment further.

They didn't need to hear more to confirm the sanity of the Clan Slayer.

'Then again, I wonder whether he went insane or if it was something else...' Shikamaru wondered internally but didn't dare to say aloud.

Saying such things out loud is the quickest way to find oneself in the Pure Lands 'accidentally.'

"That really isn't comforting. I can't imagine Sora going insane with his personality," Choji said, without eating anything at the moment.

Yeah, that sight was actually possible, albeit rare.

You couldn't even find him without a chip packet, even when he's sleeping.

"Ahh..."

"I wonder about that," Shikamaru didn't comment further, and they exchanged glances with each other.

***

"Finally, we're off that ship!" Ino stretched and happily said out loud.

"You're making it sound like it was a terrible experience or something," Kakashi said, with his trademark book in hand.

Maybe he would find a fellow smut reader in the Hidden Mist.

Okay, that definitely wasn't the reason he came here.

"You're one to talk. You just lazed around like we were on vacation or something," Ino pointed her finger at him.

Sasuke was feeling déjà vu for some reason.

Is his MS acting up again or something?

"Well, I *am* officially on vacation, you know," Kakashi winked at her.

"Ahh..." Ino was speechless at the man's excuse.

"Well, you guys will lose your vacation mood soon. Let's meet up with my acquaintance, and we'll start planning the mission," Zabuza said, and they followed him.

***

"So... this is the help you've brought?" the speaker's eyes twitched.

"Were you expecting me to bring a Kage or something?" Zabuza huffed.

"Well, not really..." Everyone sweatdropped.

Did she actually think Kage-level ninjas were like cabbages sold freely?

Talk about ridiculous.

"Still, I can see why you'd bring the Copy-ninja, but... why are there kids with him?" Mei's eyes twitched.

"Also, one who seems like they haven't even gone to the academy yet."

"Hey now, I'm a chunin," Sora, tired from his intense training last week, was emotionally drained and fell for the bait.

"Did you not tell these kids what the mission is?" She looked at Kakashi, who just shrugged.

"You can tell them now," his nonchalant attitude irked Ao, but being the older one, he controlled his emotions.

"Well, we're gonna kill the Fourth Mizukage." She saw the kids, and absurdly, no one was surprised.

Well, Ino-Shika-Cho had already seen the most absurd things. Killing a Kage didn't sound shocking.

Sasuke didn't really care about killing a Kage—he had to kill Itachi, so this might give him real experience of the gap between A-rank and S-rank.

Sora, well... he had actually fought a Kage, albeit not at their peak, but still had, so he wasn't really scared.

"So, you're gonna form an alliance with Konoha if we successfully kill him?" Shikamaru looked at Mei.

"You guys are taking this well. Yeah, we would, if you're actually useful. Well, Kakashi and Uchiha will join me, Mangetsu, and Zabuza in the fight. You guys will coordinate to take out the Anbu and others under him, I guess," Mei sighed.

"Kakashi-sensei, I also want to take part in the battle with the Kage. I always wanted to be part of a coup," Sora looked at Kakashi.

"Kid, are you serious?" Mei crouched so she was face-to-face with Sora.

"Do you know what Kage-level means?" She put her finger on Sora's forehead, the latter unfazed.

Mei released her killing intent, making everyone in the room tense, ready for battle if they could move.

"I could kill you anytime now. Are you not afraid of dying?" Mei was surprised that Sora didn't have any instinctual reaction and had two fingers pointed at her head.

"I am actually afraid of dying, but not at the moment," Sora said with an expression that showed he was bored.

"Oh, why not?"

"Because I would be able to kill you before you kill me," his response surprised everyone in the room except Kakashi, Sasuke, and Zabuza.

Mei whistled, "You do know I can perform seal-less jutsu?"

"What a coincidence. I can also perform seal-less jutsu," Sora smirked.

"Oh, do you have confidence that you can defeat me?" Mei smiled.

"Well, in a normal fight, no, but I have the confidence to kill you in this position if you initiate the attack. Shall we test my claim?" Sora made most of his chakra rush to his right hand.

"Maa, maa, how about we not do that?" Kakashi now had his hand on Mei's shoulder.

Anbu surrounded the nonchalant Kakashi, their jutsu ready to be unleashed, as they hadn't detected his move.

Sasuke's sword was almost clashing with Zabuza's.

Ino-Shika-Cho and Haku were the only ones not moving due to Mei's killing intent.

Ao had opened his Byakugan and was ready to attack Kakashi.

Kakashi's nonchalant attitude, outnumbered by Anbu and an S-rank ninja, was giving Ao a bad feeling.

"Hahaha, Konoha really has a way of producing monsters," Mei stood up as Sora dissipated the chakra he was building.

She looked at Kakashi, who was still reading his book without looking up.

"It seems we might actually win," Mei smirked.

***

"So, what are we supposed to do again?" Ino's eyes twitched.

She had seen this coming when the mission was announced.

"To protect the civilians from the bloodline faction," Haku said.

Ino sighed.

"Focus, guys, we have an important job to do," Shikamaru reminded them—no, her.

"Hai hai," Ino whined.

***

"So, are we directly gonna attack the Mizukage Tower, or whatever you call it?" Sora asked.

"I don't think we should—"

"I like the way you think," Mei smirked.

Mangetsu looked at her in confusion, "Hmm, won't that be hard with Anbu and all?"

"You're gonna deal with them," her words made Mangetsu's eyes twitch.

"I'm not even gonna ask why a kid is present," Mangetsu sighed.

"Is my age really off-putting? I mean, I like that people underestimate me, but isn't it too much?"

"Well, it's not rare to see kids your age become ninjas... actually, it is less common," Mangetsu corrected himself while sighing.

"Oh, so why?"

"Well, it's rare to see a kid participate in killing a Kage," he deadpanned.

"Well, it's not my first time fighting a Kage," Sora smirked.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Everyone from the Mist was shocked.

"It's why I was directly promoted to Chunin."

If they were confused before, now they were dumbfounded.

Has Konoha's Chunin exams changed? For direct promotion without going through the exams, do they have to defeat a Kage?

"Hmm, I want the list of Konoha ninjas who were directly promoted without taking the Chunin exams," Mei told the Anbu who were on their side.

She suspiciously looked at Kakashi. From what she could remember, he was promoted through the Chunin exams... or was he? Maybe this policy was recently created.

Who knows how many Elite Jounin Konoha is hiding with this method?

It seems the next Great Ninja War might be similar to the Second War.

Kakashi deadpanned.

"Wait, who did you fight?" Mangetsu asked.

"I—" "Idiot, you're not supposed to tell mission details to others," Sasuke bonked Sora.

"I was going to say that I'm not supposed to give out mission details," Sora protested.

He was wrongly hit.

"This is definitely child abuse," he pointed at Sasuke.

He was going to court for this.

"You're an official ninja; normal laws don't apply to you."

"What? This is such an injustice... wait, would stealing money from others be against the law? From civilians? It's fine as long as I don't get caught, right?" Sora said, realizing, and made a mental note to check the ninja laws for loopholes.

Sasuke was speechless at this.

Now, he couldn't really reprimand Sora, as he hadn't faced any money problems himself.

So, he glanced at Kakashi for help.

Kakashi sighed.

"It's fine as long as you don't get caught."

Everyone in the room looked at the man in question.

Something is definitely wrong in Konoha.

***

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